Barry Finegold Makes It Rain

Rumor has it that state senator Barry Finegold of Andover intends to run for state treasurer in 2014â€”and his campaign account sure seems to support that speculation. Finegold raised more than a quarter-million dollars in the first half of 2013, which is leaps and bounds beyond any of his peers, and far more than he would need to pursue re-election.

The only senator even close to him was Linda Dorcena Forryâ€”an anomaly, who raised and spent big bucks for the special election that just recently landed her a seat in the senate chamber.

Finegold and Forry were hardly the only state senators with higher office in mind in the past six months. But congressional candidates Will Brownsberger, Katherine Clark, and Karen Spilka are raising their money via a separate federal account. Dan Wolf (who has plenty of his own money for campaigning) was apparently not raising money at all prior to his early-July gubernatorial announcement.

The January-to-June reports were due Monday, giving us the first peek into what state legislators have been raising and spending this yearâ€”lawmakers make other pols report twice a month, but not themselves. Other items for the tea-leaf readers: rumors that Republican Richard Ross isn’t running again will get a boost; senate president Therese Murray, widely expected to be in her final term, continued to raise but not at her usual levels; Stanley Rosenberg, rumored to have gained the upper hand to succeed Murray, upped his fundraising; but the same can’t be said of Stephen Brewer, Rosenberg’s rival for the presidency.

As for Boston’s delegation … Anthony Petruccelli continues to show his fundraising prowess, and Sal DiDomenico is also keeping the money rolling in. Sonia Chang-Diaz, on the other hand, may have been a little too busy with her pregnancy to do much fundraising.

Here are the amounts raised in the first half of 2013 by the 40 state senators, along with their committees’ current balances. [Note: Bob Hedlund’s report has not yet been posted.]